


Intensity

by Sylv



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-03
Updated: 2012-12-03
Packaged: 2017-11-20 05:16:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/581677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sylv/pseuds/Sylv
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Riku was an intense kind of guy. Always had been.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Intensity

Riku was an intense kind of guy. He always had been. Even when they were little, he was the one going, "Concentrate, guys!" or "Focus!" or his famous "Hey! Stop lazing around and help me out!" When he set his sights on something, he didn't let go until he was finished with what he had started. All of his energy was focused upon that one object.  
  
Intense.  
  
Kairi hadn't really put it together that that trait of his would carry over into his relationships as well.  
  
It was silly of her-- she really should have thought of it. The ideas simply hadn't connected in her head. But being under those intense spotlights of his was a little distracting, and a bit hard not to notice.  
  
Before they had started dating, even, when he was still pursuing her, he had been just as focused. When he looked at her, she could feel shivers shuddering up and down her spine, and when he touched her, electricity sizzled at the point of contact. It was disorienting, and even a bit unsettling, but she had to hand it to him; he never gave up.  
  
"You guys, what's this about?"  
  
"Just keep your eyes closed, Kairi."  
  
Her two best friends led her, each holding one of her hands, pulled her farther into what she could only suspect was a room. She resisted the urge to take a peek at whatever it was they were hiding from her, hoping that whatever it was, it was worth it, with all the fuss that they were making.  
  
"Okay," they all stopped moving. "You can open your eyes now."  
  
Kairi did so, and gasped at what she saw in front of her. They were in her room; her room that had been completely redecorated. The walls were now blue and green alternating colors, instead of the pale purple that they had been before. The floor was covered in a plush rug that she almost sunk into when she walked on it. Therewere balloons floating around the ceiling, snacks piled high on top of her dresser and a giant paper cutout "Happy Birthday Kairi" hanging from the ceiling.   
  
And on one wall next to her bed, the entire space was overed in photographs that held she, her friends,and the island. She saw one where Riku was covered in whipped cream and snarling at someone off camera, presumably the two of them. there was a picture of the failed treehouse in the back of Sora's yard, and one of the three of them making 'sand angels' on the beach together. Sunsets, the tree, Kairi's face when the two boys had drawn all over it in permanent marker as she slept, the three of them sniffling on Riku's couch, all having gotten sick at the same time. Obviously the two of them had been hunting for photos for a while.  
  
"What... what is this?" asked the girl, her blue eyes wide as they wandered over everything, taking in all the details that they could see.  
  
"It's your birthday!" chirped Sora, grinning from ear to ear and placing his hands behind his head. When Kairi spun around to look at them, her eyebrows raised in disbelief, the boy chuckled. "Hey, believe it," he told her.  
  
"How...?"  
  
"It was not easy, let me tell you! We had to get you out of the house and keep you out for a few days, so we had everyone invite you for sleepovers. Then we had to haul ass to get it finished. That... that... _thing_ ," and here he gestured at the wall of pictures, "was the most horrible experience that I've ever gone through in my life. Honestly, if you didn't like pictures so much..."  
  
"Just for my birthday?"  
  
"What do you mean, just for your birthday?!" The effect of Sora's indignation was a little muted by the fact that he had about ten chips stuffed into his mouth. "Of course!"  
  
"You guys are... are..."  
  
Sora laughed and put his hands up in front of him. "Hey, it was Riku's idea." he nodded over to his friend, who hadn't said anything yet. He had just stood there, smiling and enjoying watching Kairi become speechless with happiness.  
  
Kairi rushed over to hug Sora, and then Riku. The boy put his arms around her and leaned down to whisper in her ear, "Happy birthday, Kairi."  
  
She shivered and looked up to see his brilliant blue eyes trained directly on her, the energy pouring from them almost making her wince with its intensity. Kairi couldn't keep eye contact with him for long, and looked away, back at the amazing room that they had created for her.  
  
All Riku's idea, huh...?  
  
That was only one of the instances where she had been acutely aware of his attention on her, much more so than Sora's. It was so bright and unwavering and she was taken aback by it, almost afraid. She would have been, too, if it had been anyone but one of her best friends. As it was...  
  
"Guess what day it is, you guys?" asked Kairi, nearly skiping down the boardwalk to get to her friends. They sat facing her, away from the ocean. She plopped down in front of them and grinned, leaning forward. "Hm! Guess!"  
  
"What day, Kairi?" Riku indulged her, sharing a glance with Sora out of the corner of his eye.  
  
"It's Valentine's Day!" she told him, bringing her hands out from behind her back. "And I got us three a paopu fruit. So that we can all share." Her smile was bright enough to vie for the sun's place. "You'll share it with me, right?"  
  
"Duh," said Sora, and the three of them sat in the sunset to each their paopu together. Eventually, after talking and laughing and recounting stories, they all had to reluctantly return home, and walked together back to their houses. Sora was dropped off first, and waved to them frantially out of his window until they turned the corner onto the net block, down the familiar path to their own houses.  
  
"Key Kairi," Riku interrupted the silence suddenly, stopping and facing her fully. Kairi turned to look at him, feeling a bit weak-kneed as she always did when he became focused and concentrated like this.  
  
"Valentine's Day is for us to appreciate each other as friends, right?"  
  
"Yup!" Kairi agreed, clasping her hands behind her back "It's always has been, for us."  
  
"But a lot of people who  _aren't_ us celebrate Valentine's Day as a couple's day."  
  
Kairi frowned slightly. "Yeah... but, for us, that's never really been a--"  
  
"Kairi." His voice stemmed the flow of her babbling, and she stared at him as he reached into his pocket and took out a slightly crushed bundle. The girl stared uncomprehendingly in the lessening light at the objects in his hand.  
  
"I know that Valentine's Day has never been a couple thing with the three of us. But maybe... it could be." Riku handed her the bunch of delicate flowers, arranged prettily and held together iwth a sky blue bow that she vaguely recognized as one of the ones she had given him as a kid.  
  
Kairi stared at the flowers in her hands, her mind blank, not knowing what to do with them. They were beautiful. "Riku..." she whispered, glancing up at him through her lashes. Her words trailed off there, however, and she simply stood there.  
  
"It's okay," he said hastily, trying to hide the look on his face before she could see it. Too late. "You don't have to say yes, or anything, I just thought that maybe I'd put the idea out there, and... I... don't really know what I was thinking. I'll see you later, Kairi." And he began walking away.  
  
Kairi's brain was whirling around her head, trying to piece her throughts togther. His attention, his intensity... his always helping her whenever he had the slightest indicator that she needed it... the way taht she would catch him staring at her... the flowers... but the friendship, the sunsets, the races that she couldn't keep up in but tried to anyways, Sora...!  
  
Kairi turned and ran in the direction of her house, her eyes bluring with what she vigorously denied as being tears.  
  
The next morning, Riku looked up from his cereal to see his back door banging open and a winded Kairi panting in his doorway. He stood up in shock, dropping his spoon onto the table with a clatter. "Kairi! Is something wrong? What are you--?"  
  
He didn't get to finish that sentence, because all of a sudden there were soft lips on his and arms around his neck and his eyes were closed and her warm weight was leaning into him and all hecould think about was 'what is going on?' even as his arms went around her waist and he felt like he was dying the best death in the world.  
  
They broke apart, and Kair's lips were next to his ear, whispering, "Yes, yes, a million times yes."  
  
And he was floating.  
  
After that it was pretty much smooth sailing. When their friends found out, there were a lot of mutterings of "Finally!" and "Took you long enough!" and Yuffie even flicked Kairi in the head, giggling afterwards and saying, "That's for being thick."  
  
Sora had been surprisingly calm when he ahd found out. Kairi had let he and Riku have their quiet conversation alone, all while she had been talking to Selphie and biting her nails about the outcome. However, both came back smiling, and the silent words that had flowed between she and her other best friend spoke volumes that nothing vocal could have; yes, yes, I promise... always... I love you.  
  
Riku knew, and he understood, and all was well.  
  
Not too much changed in their lives, except now Kairi had dates to look forward to in the evenings and on weekends instead of just time with her friends. And riku's intensity never faded. Kairi found that she didn't mind; she realized that it was nice, being so actively wanted. They still bantered, still told jokes, she still made it her job to bring him out of his comfort zone (which was getting horrendously hard to do, as he seemed to become more comfortable in his skin as each day passed).  
  
Eventually their other friends began pairing off too, and they watched with amusement as they found even ground and steady footing, as they had had to do at first-- because some things  _do_  change when you start dating someone.  
  
Yuffie and Sora had started when she had nearly mauled him one evening in the street and asked him out. Their was a fast, whirlwind-like type of relationship, never slowing down or calming one bit. In the end they both exhausted each other, and it broke off unevenly but alright, considering; they were both still very good friends, and Yuffie had even encouraged Sora to go afte Namine once he had his eyes set on her.  
  
Sora helped Namine get over a rocky break up with Roxas, as the two of them had been together for a while before it ended. When Kairi spoke with Roxas he said something about feeling like he was "forced into the relationship because it was  expected". Eventually the two of them were okay with each other as well, but for a while their friends were really worried.  
  
Riku often said that theri lives felt like a soap opera. Kairi's reaction to that would be to pinch him and tell him to stop being so insensitive.  
  
"Ugh, it's so hot," Riku complained, lying back on the sand and closing his eyes, putting his hands behidn his head as a pillow. It had been a poor decision to go to the beach that day, as it was so hot that nobody wanted to do anything.  
  
"I know," agreed Yuffie, flipping onto her stomach so that her tan would be even. "Let's just lie here and hope that if we don't move, we won't sweat as much."  
  
"So hot..." Riku muttered again, over the quiet chatter of his other friends and the waves rolling in and out in the background. "Let's all just relax."  
  
"Okay," giggled Kairi, leaning up on one forearm and over Riku, watching his chest rise and fall as he breathed the salt air in deeply. On a sudden whim, she leaned over and began planting kisses on his somtach, slowly moving upwards to his chest.  
  
Riku's public displays of affection tolerance level differed all the time. If he was in the mood, things could go pretty far before one of them called it to a half and insisted that they move into a room and behind a door that locked. Other times he was acutely aware of other people watching them, and stopped the progression before it went anywhere. Kairi considered it almost a game to figure otu how far she could go that particular day.  
  
"Hey," riku opened one aquamarine eye and stared down at the redhead making her way slowly but steadily upwards. "That's not relaxing."  
  
Kairi merely giggled again and swooped down upon his mouth to steal a kiss before going back to his bathing suit-exposed chest and stomach.  
  
Axel wolf-whistled from where he was sitting near Roxas and Namine, drawing everyone's attention directly to the couple. Yuffie rolled her eyes playfully, whereas Sora snorted and grabbed Namine around the waist, pulling himself closer to her. "Two can play at that game, right?" he asked her, grinning as he pecked the blonde girl on the cheek, causing her cheeks to flush pink.  
  
"Aw, hell, they're at it again." Yuffie extricated herself from in between the two busy couples and moved to sit by Axel and Roxas, crossing her arms. "Wanna do something else?" she shot in their direction.  
  
"You could always hook up with Roxas," Axel offered off-handedly and with a grin.  
  
The boy's eyes widened and he put his hands up as though in defense, laughing nervously. "Ehehe, no, I think Axel would be better for that sort of thing, don't you?"  
  
Yuffie scowled at them. "Thanks, guys, you really make me feel loved."  
  
Axel shrugged generously, "Hey, we do what we can."  
  
So Kairi's life went on and incorporated Riku more as she got older. Their dates were always an experience, because when Riku did things, he did them  _right_. They had those candlelight dinners in expensive restaurants that everyone always sees in movies. They walked on the beach barefoot as the sun rose. Riku allowed Kairi to drag him into photo booths and take numerous pictures with different faces. He brought her flowers, and Kairi always looked forward to seeing what kind he chose the next time she recieved them.  
  
They did their favorite things together; they would go swimming in the ocean, or hiking up the mountains, and Riku would give Kairi piggyback rides when her feet got tired, although each time he would complain that she was too heavy for him to do this anymore, and she would playfully slap him over the head. Kairi would take him shopping sometimes, and Riku would suffer through endless "Should I buy this, or this?" in each store that they went to (but sometimes Kairi rewarded him by taking him lingerie shopping afterwards).  
  
One time they went for a drive dor a date and got completely lost for a day. They discovered a sleeply little town in the middle of nowhere, and spent the day there, wandering around the stores and art museums, visiting the one park with a giant weeping willow in the middle and ended the day by falling asleep in Riku's car pulled over by the side of the road.  
  
One time, Kairi surprised Riku with two plane tickets for their annual Valentine's Day date, and the two of them hopped ona a plane and took a vacation with each other for a week, coming back jetlagged, sunburnt and smiling brilliantly.  
  
It was Valentine's Day, the day that Riku had initially gotten up the courage to ask Kairi out, and the two of them spent it together, wandering around the strip in town which was decorated almost blindingly in pinks and reds. Kairi convinced Riku to buy a pair of bright red boxers with pink hearts on them, which led to an interestingly awkward conversation with the waitress at the cafe that they went to for lunch.  
  
It was late by the time they finished shopping. The moon and the stars were out, sparkling on the darkened water on the beach where they strolled together, feet brushing the wwaves when they rolled leisurely in, and holding hands, talking comfortably about anything and everything that came to their minds.  
  
"Uh, Kairi?" Riku asked softly, pulling her to a half beside him. The redhead looked up at him inquiringly. "Do you like your apartment?"  
  
Kairi pulled an immediate face at that. "Is this a trick question? Riku, you know that I hate where I live; it's noising all the time, it sometimes has that unidentifiable smell that no one knows where it's coming from, it's hot in the summer, cold in the winter, the sink is  _always_ breaking--"  
  
"Okay, okay!" Riku chuckled, putting an arm around her. "Then you wouldn't mind moving out."  
  
Kairi glanced at him suspiciously. "Why? Did you go and buy me an apartment, or something? You know I hate it when you do things like that when I can't afford something myself..."  
  
The young woman snapped her jaw shut as Riku moved away from her and pulled out a shiny, hard metal something from his pocket and held it up so that she could see the smoothly cut edges and shape. "Kairi..."  
  
"A key?" she scowled at him warningly, crossing her arms and cocking one hip to the side. "Riku..."  
  
"Kairi," the young man repeated, and slowly sank down onto one knee. He looked up at an astonished Kairi and asked gravely, "Will you move in with me?"  
  
Kairi let out a high-pitched squeal and leaped forward, grabbing Riku around the neck in a bone-crushing hug. "Of course I'll move in with you!" she told him breathlessly as he stood up unsteadily, trying to maintain his balance. "Of course!"  
  
"Happy Valentine's Day, Kairi."


End file.
